1.2. METHODOLOGY:

This study is based on a myriad of qualitative research techniques that were conducted in Chegutu district. Qualitative research techniques were used to extricate data on the shortcomings and inadequacies of NGOs. In-depth interviews formed the basis of data collection. Focus Group Discussions were also utilized to elicit data on the inadequacies of NGOs. The author is resident in Chegutu district therefore observation was also used. The researcher greatly interacts with NGOs, therefore is informed about the operations of NGOs and their shortcomings.

1.3. Discussion of Findings on Inadequacies and Shortcomings of Non-Governmental Organizations

1.3.1.Lack of involvement of communities in designing of projects

It is lucid that fighting poverty is a herculean and complex task. Fighting poverty requires the participation of different stakeholders in the community. Duncan (2007) tenders that participatory development has been a key element of the development theory for over two decades.Succinctly, participatory development is focused on addressing the reality of experiences and respecting the values of the community, rather than the forcing of alien knowledge and imposing outside values (Sharma 2001)Moreover, the beneficiaries of the efforts and projects targeted to end poverty must inherently be included in the designing of projects that seeks to end poverty. The experience of poverty varies from each household to another. It is a fallacy to conclude that all the households have the same experience of poverty. To substantiate the fact that the experience of poverty is multifarious, one can actually subsume this from different conceptualizations of poverty. Different scholars have different conceptualizations of what poverty is. Across literature, it is well-articulated that the understanding of poverty has well evolved from just talking in terms of income poverty to material lack. According to Ludi and Kate (2007) poverty is described in different ways. Historically, poverty has been related to income, which still remains the core concept today. It has evolved from the 19th century idea of ‘subsistence needs,’ to the mid-20th century conceptualisation of lacking ‘basic needs’, extending the initial definition by including basic facilities and services such as healthcare, sanitation and education, to the late 20th century understanding of poverty as ‘relative deprivation’, including of income and other resources, as well as social conditions.

Given this stupendous conceptualisation of poverty, it is fair to argue that poverty alleviation activities must include the poor in their designing. This ensures that they are able to articulate what they really want consequently ameliorating their situation. It is them that know what can actually be done to solve their quagmire position. Since time immemorial, NGOs have being playing the big brother role of “I know it all”. Subsequently, the NGOs have erroneously failed to involve the poor in the design of poverty alleviating activities. In Chegutu district, one can argue that NGOs have pursued the “I know it all” approach. Inherently, the poor have not being involved to acceptable levels in the design of the projects. It is a given that extricating the views and ideas of the poor is a staggering task. They are not quick to open up. However, NGOs must be innovative enough to elicit the needs and aspirations of the poor.

Internal Saving and Lending concept is one of the most significant approaches that is being used to fight poverty in the district. The concept ensures that individuals form groups. In these groups they make monthly savings determined by the group. After that all groups are expected to borrow from the pot of contributions to start household income generating activities. Those that borrow are anticipated to repay the money with interest. The interest is agreed by the group. It is the constant borrowing and repaying on monthly basis that ensures that the group fund grows. The group fund is then equally shared to all members at the end of the cycle that is usually six months.

Evidence in superfluity shows that those participating in ISALs where never involved in the design of the project. It was an alien ideal imposed on the community. Due to the fact that they are facing difficulties in paying school fees for their children, one NGO selected them to benefit from fees support. In return they had/have to participate in ISALs to ensure that after fees support ends they can be able to pay for their children school fees requirements. From participating in ISALs, it is envisaged that they can afford food and medical requirements for their families.

However, though noble the idea is, the beneficiaries of the ISAL concept where never consulted. ISAL concept was an external ideal that was superimposed on them. This dovetails with Zaidi (1999), argument that for most NGOs participatory approach is “sham” and the reality has been that of top down approach. One can question the rationale of adopting the ISAL concept from a range of multifarious options. It is the ‘I know it all” approach in play. The gravest gaffe that NGOs make is thinking that they have all the solutions for problems ravaging communities without involving the communities to acceptable levels. In this instance the blanket approach was adopted. In the thinking of the NGO, the ISAL concept was an impeccable solution to poverty. Poverty is a complex phenomenon that cannot be simplistically approached by blanket approaches. Post modernists patronize the idea by arguing that there is no single truth. Each individual experience poverty differently and uniquely and therefore requires unique interventions to fight poverty.

Imposition of the ISAL concept has produced mixed results. In some areas it has worked and in some areas it has dismally failed to bring the envisaged results. It is clear that some households do not have funds to contribute to the ISAL groups therefore the ISAL concept to them is not only suitable but actually further burdening them. Succinctly, if the NGOs continue with the current approach then development is in quandary. There is need to involve the community in the designing of poverty alleviation programmes. The actor oriented approach of Norman Long must find relevance in the programming of Non-Governmental Organizations. It is this uncalled for neglect of the actor oriented approach that is putting developing in doldrums.

1.3.2. Neglecting certain categories of members of development

It is a travesty and mistake of unrivalled intensity to leave the development aspirations of a nation or district to the operations of NGOs. By their very nature, NGOs are there to complement government efforts. According to Kabonga (2015) since the beginning of the new millennium Zimbabwe has been experiencing socio-economic challenges of massive magnitude. The government of Zimbabwe was encumbered in fostering socio-economic development. This was further exacerbated by the ignominy sanctions that were meted on Zimbabwe for what the western powers and the Bretton Woods institution termed gross violation of human rights. Consequently, NGOs assumed some of the roles of government especially in the provision of social services like education, health, housing and food provision (Murisa 2012).

To assume that NGOs will solve all the diabolical ills that are affecting societies is a fallacy. Operationally, projects being implemented in Chegutu district have two to three objectives. What it means is that it is two or three problems that will be addressed by the project. More importantly, each project has specific beneficiaries for instance OVC, women, people living with disability, survivors of gender based violence and youth. Those outside the beneficiary category are not supposed to benefit. Experience with donor aid in Chegutu district conspicuously is neglecting selected categories of members of society. The prominent groups being neglected openly are the old aged, women and people living with disability. There are no projects that are specially targeting these groups.

This is the greatest drawback of donor aid that it is limited to specific group of people. No NGOs so far has ever tried to target all sections of society. Each NGO has certain group of people who are benefitting. Conspicuously, this has led to the neglecting of certain categories of members of society in this case the women, the disabled and the old aged. Subedi (2000) interestingly submits that aid that targets the old, women and those living with disability is considered to be more sustainable than aid that neglects these groups. In the conceptualization of Subedi NGOs and aid in Chegutu district is far from being sustainable. Given, the obtaining environment of neglecting certain categories of members of society it is clear that development is still a far-fetched ideal in the district. The district cannot be considered to be developed if certain categories of the members of society are still wallowing in poverty, lack access to basic social services and are still disempowered.

Related to the neglect of certain groups in society it is the piece- meal style operation of NGOs. This is evident in that very few NGOs saturate the district with their activities. In the same district is not uncommon to have NGOs being in certain wards and virtually absent in some wards. In most scenarios, with Chegutu district rural having 29 wards, it is common to have a NGO operating in two wards only. This piece-meal style operation is antithetical to development as some areas/ wards are neglected. Development will remain a dream as long as saturation of the district is not achieved.

It is also fair to consider the factors that are contributing to the above mentioned scenarios. It is lucid that donor support has been waning drastically in Zimbabwe. Therefore it is financial difficulties that are contributing to the lack of saturation of the district.

1.3.3. CHEATING:

Regrettably, there is cheating that is being done by NGOs and their partners in the implementation of activities. This cheating is even validated by Non-Governmental Organizations as they are aware of rampant and poignant cheating being done by their cadres in the community. The cheating takes different forms. More prominently is the falsification of activities that are reported to have been conducted when in actual fact no activities where conducted. In some instances figures are inflated. Some NGOs have even mastered the art of inflating impact being made in the community in a bid to please their masters.

It emerged that community cadres of one organization implementing an HIV project aiming at adoption of positive behaviour through home visits and discussion sessions, there is falsification of addresses of households reached. Some of the reported households address reported do not even exist in the Norton area of Chegutu district. In some instances the household addresses do exist but names of the people recorded as being reached virtually are non-existent. The biggest question that one can pose is, is it possible to trickster development. This miscreantal behaviour is adversative to development. Cheating is problematic in numerous ways. Firstly, the cadres that have mastered the art of cheating are paid quarterly allowances. Therefore essentially people are being paid for doing nothing except for hoaxing. Developmental resources are being wasted indiscriminately in this manner. Secondly, this ignominy act is taking would be beneficiaries for a ride. They are denied of services that they rightfully deserve. Individuals have the right to be informed about HIV and AIDS and similar concomitants like STI’s, cervical cancer, medical male circumcision and contraceptives. Denying them the information through rampant cheating is tantamount to condemning them to perpetual ignorance.

In order to survive in the hostile and unfriendly environment that is characterised by ever plummeting donor support, NGOs have become innovative in their programming. They have devised a clever way of charming their donors so that they are guaranteed continued support. This is reflected in what NGOs call success stories, human interest stories or most significant change stories. Success stories or human interest stories are a clever way of charming donors to guarantee continued support. Success stories are an easiest way of glorifying the impact that is being made in society. In most cases overwhelming failures are never mentioned by NGOs and they are swept under the carpet while the so called success stories take precedence. The success stories or human interest stories are worded using over elaborative and flowery language that does not actually reflect what is on the ground. The discourse of human interest stories and success stories is just a spurious way of captivating donors and earn credibility in the eyes of a donor. Whilst human interest stories are not inherently problematic, it is the unbalanced nature in which they are used to garner donor support that creates problems. NGOs do not portray plausible facts on the ground they are good at emblazoning themselves with success.

1.3.4. Poor execution of activities

The foundation of NGOs in Chegutu district is that they are anchored on community cadres operating in the community. The typologies of community cadres are called by different names including secondary caregivers, village health workers, child protection committee members and behaviour change facilitators. Each organization has a set of community cadres that it works with. Resultantly, one cadre can be working for three or four organizations doing different activities in the community. More importantly, some organization pay allowances while other organizations do not pay allowances. It is the lack of allowances that are paid to community cadres that NGOs are generally believed to be operating at lower cost due to the volunteer input. (Lewis and Kanji 2009)

Generally, the community cadres working with NGOs are inadequately capacitated. In turn this is resulting in poor execution of their duties. In Norton a quantum of behaviour change facilitators are poorly executing informative sessions. They are failing to articulate facts and information on topics like HIV and AIDS, STIs, cervical parts, reproductive systems and medical male circumcision. In one scenario, on a monitoring visit, a behaviour change facilitator failed to open her mouth and in the end requesting assistance from the project officer who had accompanied her. It is grossly unfair to heap aspersions on community cadres for the poor execution of activities. To some extent, NGOs are themselves to blame for the obtaining situation. NGOs are not justified in lamenting the blatant poor execution of activities as they are guilt of not capacitating their cadres. NGOs are not adequately training their cadres and stalwartly equipping them with information. In some instance the community cadres suffer from lack of equipment and paraphernalia to do their job. This include stationery, manuals and modules. In this unconducive environment it is unthinkable to anticipate top drawer performance from cadres. It is this herculean demotivating and stressful environment that is bowing down to poor execution of activities.

Sympathisers of community cadres have been quick to pin point that lack of incentivisation of some of the community is the root cause of poor execution of activities. In an environment characterised by economic hardships it is morally upright to incentivise the community cadres patronizes sympathisers of community cadres. This argument however lacks merits on multifarious fronts. This argument falls on its face value given the fact that during the recruitment they were told that it is volunteering. It was categorically spelt out to them that no pecuniary benefits or otherwise that are attached to the positions. They were told they are volunteering for the good of the community and they consented to that. It is a fallacy to believe that lack of incentivisation is the mother or the genesis of poor performance. Even those that are receiving quarterly allowances, have performance always leaves a lot to be desired.

With no intention to denigrate community cadres that inundate Chegutu district, the calibre of individuals that are selected to be community cadres provides insights to the performance of the community cadres. The preponderance of the community cadres in Chegutu district are old aged. Some of these community cadres are semi-literate. Given these factors what it means is that they take long to grasp concepts. They require constant refresher trainings. In the era of plummeting donor resources refresher trainings are a luxury. The mentioned characteristics of these community cadres means that engagement with community is difficult especially with those literate like the youths. NGOs have to revisit the calibre of the people that are recruited to be community cadres.

Dissenting opinions have been put forth encouraging NGOs to recruit the youths to be community cadres. Given the soaring levels of unemployment in the country there are a number youths that are available in the community that can be utilised to community cadres. Crystal clear evidence shows that the youth are a highly mobile category. It is very risky to consider this category to be community cadres. The commitment of the youths to be unpaid volunteers is highly questionable. They have a lot that they want to do with their lives, and monetary rewards are always a priority with young people. The possibility of considering the youths to be community cadres or volunteers is out of the question considering the inherent characteristics of this category of people. As long as community cadres are incapacitated, no development will be realised. NGOs must find ways of capacitating community cadres as they are a vital cog in the development matrix of the district.

1.3.5 Competition between NGOs

There is some form of competition between NGOs operating in the district. This is not only peculiar to Zimbabwe but also to other counties. Lu (2000) suggests that, not only do NGOs compete for each other’s skilled staff, but they also compete for clients, funding, media attention, and favours parcelled out by government officials. This unfortunate situation does not augur well for NGO solidarity. The competition though subtle is delaying developmental progress in the district. An impeccable example of the competition between NGOs is that of conducting similar activities at the same site. To put it candidly, there are two NGOs that are conducting the same activity at same schools. The activity is the assessment of the children for childhood illness. One of the organization focuses on the lower grades while the other focus on all children at the school. The implication is that when the organization that focuses on all the children enrolled conducts its assessment at the school it also assess the children in the lower grades that would have been assessed before. It boggles the mind to have NGOs conducting the same activities at the same intervention sites with the hope of creating the same impact. Evidence in superfluity, suggests NGOs are concerned with ensuring that they reach their targets. Even if it means conducting the same activity conducted by other NGOs, it does not matter. Reaching set target is prioritized by NGOs because it makes their funders happy.

The competition that is existing between NGOs is undesirable and problematic in myriad of ways. Firstly, competition exposes the double standards of NGOs. NGOs are good at preaching the gospel of integrated development. Integrated development is the bringing together of different stakeholders so that they work together in addressing the developmental needs of the area. What is happening juxtapose the discourse of integrated development. Critics of NGOs are justified in arguing that NGOs do not practise what they preach. Secondly, the obtaining situation is akin to wastage of resources. One can appreciate the wastage of resources as children that would have been assessed are reassessed. Paradoxically, in the same district there are schools who are not benefitting from these assessments. Instead of stampeding to conduct same activity at the same school one would hope that NGOs consider those schools. Thirdly, sustainable development is one of the buzz words in the NGO world. It is an enigma that NGOs talk of sustainable development when they are at the fore front of flouting the concept of sustainable development through leakage of resources. Critics of NGOs are sceptical about the commitment of NGOs to sustainable development. Can NGOs be trusted as purveyors of sustainable development? In Chegutu district, hitherto, the answer is to the contrary.

1.4. SUMMARY OF RECOMMENDATIONS:

This paper would have done itself a great disservice if it concludes without proffering recommendations to countermand some of the weakness of NGOs mentioned above. More importantly capacity building should be prioritized by NGOs especially in the context of the calibre of community cadres. Though the NGOs are lamenting scarcity of resources, the community cadres requires regular capacitation. This can take form of refresher training. Materials like stationery, modules and manuals should always be available. Availability of these paraphernalia is motivation enough for community cadres to perform their work.

In this epoch of Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) sustainability should form the fulcrum of NGO programming. Consequently, in the context of competition, NGOs are recommended to adopt integrated development strategy. Instead of competing NGOs should harness their resources and work together. In Chegutu district if the integrated development approach with specific reference to health assessments is adopted, a quantum of resources will be saved.

The top-down approach as demonstrated has significantly failed to work and has actually exacerbated the problems of households. Instead of designing projects for the poor without their input, the poor should be consulted significantly because they are the ones that are experiencing poverty. Their input is important and projects designed with the involvement of the community receive buy in from the community.

Finally, NGOs are encouraged to strengthen their monitoring and evaluation system. This will eviscerate ills like cheating. Spot visits and beneficiary verifications should be implemented. Beneficiary verifications will confirm if cheating has or has not taken place.

1.5. CONCLUSION:

It is crystal clear that NGOs are an important paraphernalia to development. NGOs are invaluable to the development trajectory of Zimbabwe. The relevance of NGOs to the development matrix of Zimbabwe is being heavily tarnished by a plethora of inadequacies and shortcomings that are putting development in quandary. Cheating, lack of involvement of communities in design of projects, poor execution of activity and incapacity of community cadres summarizes prominent shortcomings of NGOs. As long as NGO programming is riddled with glaring inconsistencies development in the district will remain a pipeline dream. It is the response of NGOs to the inadequacies alluded that will determine the efficacy of NGOs as purveyors of development. The inadequacies though they have serious ramifications on development they are no way insurmountable and impregnable. Through regular capacity building initiatives poor execution of activities can be solved. In this era of post-millennium development goals, sustainable development is the in-thing. NGOs have no option but to integrate their programs. Strengthening of monitoring and evaluation systems is of paramount importance to deal with rampant and poignant cheating. Adoption of some of the above mentioned strategies will steer development in the district.

1.6. REFERENCES:

Duncan., A., 2007. A participatory Evaluation of a Development NGO in Nicaragua, Thesis Submitted in Partial Fulfilment of Requirements of MSc Sociology, Virginia

Kabonga., I., 2015 Impact of Donor in Socio-Economic Development: A Case Study of Chegutu District, A Dissertation in Partial Fulfilment of Master of Arts in Development Studies

Lewis., D., Kanji., N., 2009. NGO’s and Development, Routledge, New York

Ludi., E., and Bird., K., 2002. Brief No 1, Understanding Poverty

Lu., Y., 2000. The Limitations of NGOs, A preliminary Study of Non-Government Social Welfare Organization in China, CSC International Working Paper 13

Murisa., T., 2010. Social Development in Zimbabwe, Discussion Paper Prepared For the Development Foundation of Zimbabwe

Sharma., M., Deepak., S., 2001. Rehabilitation in Practice: A Participatory Evaluation of community-based rehabilitation programme in North Central Vietnam, Disability and Rehabilitation, 23(8), 352-358

Zaidi., S., A., 1999. NGO failure and the need to bring back the state, Journal of International Development. 11, 259-27

Received on 11.12.2015

Modified on 25.01.2016

Accepted on 09.02.2016

Research J. Humanities and Social Sciences. 7(2): April - June, 2016, 89-94

DOI: 10.5958/2321-5828.2016.00015.2